The first episode is titled "Children of the Gods". My first thought is "Mary-Sue ALERT!" but I'll try to hush that instinct for the moment. The first scene takes place in what looks like a warehouse. A group of military personnel (perhaps?) are sitting around a table playing poker (and at this point I start getting visions of Star Trek: The Next Generation) just hanging out.
About sixty seconds later I was thrown violently into the plot.
Before I know it, there's a huge portal swirling into view, and these snake-head-suited aliens come out, and they capture a girl, and people are freaking out, and bullets are flying, and the scene cuts to some lonely guy on his roof looking at the stars.
My first thought is, "Wait, what just happened?!" We've got kidnapping aliens with lightning-shooting spears and something that looks like a miniature wormhole. It's like Star Trek with more guns and less peace.
But the writers redeem themselves and I quickly get back on track. The lonely guy on the roof is Colonel Jack O'Neill, retired (yeah, like that's gonna last long) and he's apparently one of the people to originally have gone through the Stargate, the big swirling circular thing in the warehouse. Major Samuels, of course, entices the Colonel back to the base with news of the Stargate.
It's in this next part we get to see the unmasked alien for the first time, up-close and personal. The alien looks very, very human (budget?) save for a circular scar pattern on his/its forehead. O'Neill is, of course, an expert on all of this weaponry and whatnot, since he traveled to a planet called "Abydos" the first time through the 'Gate.
Typical military, the General, Hammond, wants to immediately destroy the planet the aliens came from (apparently it was supposed to have been destroyed the first time, but O'Neill's team didn't out of their basic moral human compassion and love, blah blah blah) but of course O'Neill is forced to confess that, yes, the planet is still there, and yes, one of their crew is still there, a scientist by the name of Jackson.
This, of course, leads to ADVENTURE TIME!!
That, and the crew roster.
We've got Jack O'Neill, and also Captain Samantha Carter. She's a brilliant, beautiful, nerdy know-it-all who has (of course) "been preparing all her life for this mission". Personally I think she's rather annoying, but she might turn out to be an interesting character. She's the only woman of the main crew so far.
Through a TARDIS/Doctor Who-like swirling of colour and flashy '90's effects, the scientist and the colonel (and a bunch of other people) go whirling through the Stargate and to Abydos, which I now recall is the setting of the original movie. Here we meet Jackson and his wife, Sha're, a native of the planet (but still human), as well as a boy O'Neill is very close to, Skaara.. It's very Egyptian. While on the planet they discover that there are multiple Stargates (there's your series) and that the bad aliens enjoy taking women, such as (of course) Jackson's wife.
The Earthlings return to the Earth's Egyptian Stargate and then take a team to the evil aliens' planet, which they determined by putting a sort of code into the Stargate. They travel there, and the scene frequently flashes back to the Air Force woman from the beginning. Through her we meet the apparent Pharaoh/God of this, and thus the antagonist. He's actually a humanoid host for an alien parasite, so he is truly the parasite. We learn he is Apophis, another Egyptian "god" (who were all aliens in the first place, anyways). He's looking for a host for his queen's parasite, and if the women the bring in (from capture) aren't good enough, they are killed. The perfect vessel is (of course) Jackson's wife.
The Earth crew is eventually captured, but since antagonists can't be negotiated with (this is no Star Trek) a huge battle ensues. They try to rescue Sha're and Skaara, who were both parasite'd, but to no avail. They escape with a bunch of refugees from Abydos and a deviant servant of the Gods, a Jaffra by the name of Teal'C. The bad guys disappear through the Stargate, but obviously to some different location. The Earthlings and their refugees return to Earth.
And we finally get to the plot of the show. O'Neill is put on a team with Jackson, Carter, and Teal'C. Their objective is to help identify and fight off hostiles at the other Stargates, and make peaceful contact with other species if possible. Their team is SG-1, and there's another called SG-2.
Oh, and this is top secret.
So far I see a lot of cliches. There's the reluctant leader (who's still very passionate), the female who feels everyone must be sexist, the nerdy guy who knows everything about the natives, and the mysterious alien deviant. It feels like Star Trek with more guns, and Stargates instead of starships. I think the show definitely has potential so I'll stick with it and give it a chance.
One thing I found very interesting was the freedom of the show. It was on Showtime in the US originally, so they're not as strict about things like nudity. There are a couple shots, especially of Sha're, where it's full-on nudity. I can't say I've even seen that in an American movie. I wonder what else will be interesting in that aspect.
The special effects are pretty good. I've seen a lot of '80's and early '90's shows so I'm not that picky. Heck, even Star Trek was pretty good for the '60's. I really like the Stargate itself; it just looks so cool. The travel-through is awesome beyond belief. The opening is quite lame but it might change. I kind of hope it will.
Overall, I like it. I don't love it, but I like it. Very interested to see how the crew develops and grows. Teal'C's on my watch list!
No comments:
Post a Comment